Francophone parliamentarians strengthen engagement on multilateral trade at WTO/APF event

Legislators from French-speaking countries gathered in Geneva to engage with the WTO Secretariat on the rules, negotiations and challenges shaping the multilateral trading system. The workshop, organized as part of the WTO's technical assistance and capacity building mandate, was designed in response to the priorities identified by the APF's Commission on Economic, Social and Environmental Affairs in its 2024-2025 report on international trade negotiations.

The workshop was opened by WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, APF Delegate-General Amélia Lakrafi, Deputy Director-General Jean-Marie Paugam and Mame Diarra Beye, President of the APF Commission on Economic, Social and Environmental Affairs, a major partner in the workshop whose membership spans parliaments across Africa, Asia, Europe and Canada.

Over two days, more than 30 parliamentarians explored a broad range of issues at the heart of today's trade agenda, from food security, agriculture and fisheries subsidies to e-commerce, investment facilitation, trade and gender, sustainability, and standards and regulations. The exchanges were enriched by the diversity of national perspectives, with legislators drawing on their own experiences to explore complex multilateral questions and concrete policy actions.

In addition to WTO Secretariat expertise, the programme was further enhanced by the contributions of partner organizations: the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF), the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the International Trade Centre (ITC), the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF), and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

The workshop took place just weeks after the conclusion of the WTO's 14th Ministerial Conference (MC14) in Yaoundé, Cameroon, where parliamentary engagement featured prominently in calls for WTO reform and a strengthened multilateral trading system.